Touch of the Split Heart
by TaquetoCagy
Summary: Untouched by Heartless. Thats what the planet was, not that anyone knew that. To them, life was the same as it always had been. But not for long.
1. Chapter 1: What The Next Life Brought

Notes:

This is my first story on here! Yay! Dance! Sing! Excitement! This has a dedication to my friend Melissa, and my other friend Corey who edited this thing for me. (Axel FTW, Corey!) And so here we go! Hope you enjoy!~

CHAPTER ONE: WHAT THE NEXT LIFE BROUGHT

The next life had never come for Axel. For some strange reason he just hadn't died that day when he helped the young one he knew to be Sora. Luck, he guessed. Or was it something more? It was all so confusing. Last thing he could remember was fading away, watching Sora stare down at him in horror. Kairi s in the castle dungeon now go! They were the last things he said before opening a portal to help out the teenage boy that reminded him so much of his only friend but instead of dying, here he was alive and well.

Well, whatever--he was going someplace new, a new planet he had yet to see. What excitement! How adventurous! On the upside, walking down one of the abandoned streets in the middle of the night with a black cloak and spiked hair didn't seem too out of place; a little abnormal, but not out of place. Yet what was a world without weird? Weird was fun. He was Axel, after all, the weirdest ex-operative of Organization XIII. Axel thought of himself to be the weird that was occasionally needed in every world, so it was nothing to him in fact, it was a preferred option that he was just a tad on the odd side here. Weirder still, he was technically supposed to be dead. Well, at least it wasn t a new feeling...

What bothered him most was that it was so quiet here, even if it was at night. Nighttime had never stopped Heartless before He scratched his head and continued walking, pondering the theory. There just were no heartless here! Somehow, the planet had remained completely unscathed from what had destroyed many other planets. Not that that was bad, but what bugged Axel was just that: the lack of heartless! How did it work? What did this world have that the Heartless feared, or avoided? Were they just not interested, was it not worth their time? Delving further in thought, it didn't have to be a fear thing. This world may not have what they were after, and so they decided not to waste time. That doesn't make sense, Axel thought. The Heatless ultimate goal was to get the heats of world and then send the said world to darkness, converting most the people into Heartless along the way. Consequently, this also resulted in Nobodies, people without hearts, like Axel himself. Still, all worlds had hearts, so why skip one so oblivious to the threat that Heartless posed? These people hadn't even heard of them as far as Axel knew.

He kept walking. It s not like he had or needed a destination. He was just....walking; he let his feet take him to his destination, wherever that may be. For the moment, he was completely content to wander aimlessly, thinking about how backwards the Nobodies and the Heartless' names were. Heartless had hearts, but they were consumed by darkness, making them cold, vengeful, and, well, Heartless. Nobodies were the empty shells of what was left after the Heartless had been converted, it felt nothing, but they remembered having hearts, thus they could almost, but not quite, feel. Sometimes something would give them the ability to feel. Axel had found that in his best friend, Roxas, who was now gone. He sighed at the memory, saddened. (Or, at least as saddened as a Nobody could be.) He continued thinking, trying to stray from the memories. In essence, Nobodies should actually be heartless because they literally lacked hearts, unlike the actual heartless. He nodded in (not so) understanding, and looked up at a glowing, electronic billboard. The letters along the top said Colonial High School. Axels mind flashed back to his own brief schooling; he hadn t been too old when he had changed.

Huh, he muttered, and another thoughtful look entered his green eyes. That sounds like it might be fun.

A playful smirk danced across Axel s pale lips, thinking of the other people that didn t even know of Heartless on this Heartless-free planet. Ones he'd met before, ones whose names he knew.

:- - -:

The most petite friend was still the littlest, even though she had grown some. Her two friends had also grown, and just as she stood taller than them, she was plagued by their growth-spurts, thus she had become the smallest once again. Essentially, she had given up on trying to be tall.

"Hey, little one!" The tallest of the three cajoled, ruffling the shorter one s dark hair, being a good head taller than she was. "What's up?"

"Don't call me little one," she muttered flatly, her teal eyes glaring back up at her brown-haired friend.

The tallest let out a laugh, grinning at her friend s anger. "Whatever you say, Kris!"

"C'mon, Mara, play nice." the third friend said, her green eyes twinkling playfully. "Don't pick on the vertically challenged."

"Very nice, Arisa." Kris said, rolling her eyes. Very, very helpful. I thank you.

Arisa wound an arm around Kris s arms in a friendly hug. Sorry, Kris. You re just so teeny, it s hard not to! And you make fun of yourself all the time, so we figure why not join in on the fun?

Kris s face broke into a grin and she nodded. It was true; she made fun of herself more than anyone else in the school. Everyone, including her, knew that. Kris had to stay chipper about the whole short thing, if she didn t she d probably have a very depressing school day.

With a few loud thunks, the friend's dropped their school things onto a table in the cafeteria. The fake wood made the sound louder then need be. Not that it mattered; the sound was mostly drowned out by the sounds of the high-school kids that lurked in the cafeteria in the morning before school started.

"So any idea what's going on today?" Arisa said with a sideways glance at her friends.

Kris raised an eyebrow. "Um, we've got a test in History class?" she said. "What are you talking about, Arisa?"

Arisa's eyebrows drew together in a slightly anxious expression. "I...don't know. I mean, it s not anything that really has to do with school. It s just that I've got the feeling that we should be expecting something to happen."

Mara shrugged, writing it off already. "It s probably nothing. You're probably just stressed out about something." She gave a skeptical look and put her hands on her hips.

"No, Mara." Arisa shook her head, the blond hair moving around her in a spray, even though it was wavy and cropped at the shoulders. I think that something is going to happen Something big.

Tall, blond haired, teal eyes and an oval shaped face, Arisa was, in most respects, cute. She liked to garden, and at her house there was an orchard and chicken pens full of fuzzy yellow and brown baby chickens. The rest of the farm-like property was littered with forest. Wild, completely untamed woods that, periodically and regardless of weather, she and Kris went hiking through. Arisa was, of course, and adventurer. Usually adventuring alone, she found it best to drag Kris along since they lived remotely close to each other. Kris and Arisa both enjoyed the treks, though Kris found it an annoyance when they got into latest adventure had resulted in them having to run through a thicket and a large span of devil s clubs, as they d managed to upset a bee s nest. To their surprise, both Kris and Arisa escaped without a single sting. However, Arisa did get a slap upside the head for upsetting the bees in the first place, but she considered it to be worth it. Last spring, they d come across a bunch of snakes in the same area. They weren t poisonous, but they nipped at Kris all the same. When one went for her ankle, and she practically teleported back down the path. Arisa had about keeled over with laughter. Arisa's adventurous personality was one that lured people out of their shells, and it was part of the reason that Kris had become friends with her in the first place. She had an adorable, disarming smile, and when she walked, she practically glided. She was graceful, compassionate, and strong, the type of person that people could turn to into a time of need. She was someone who, no matter what, it was completely safe to be with her. Kindness and understanding was held in her posture; it was just something that she radiated with.

Mara was much the same, she was compassionate. The withdrawn Kris had no people skills and thus did not have this, yet these two had drawn her to them. She was skinny, but not like Arisa. She was filled out just a little more. Her big brown eyes, like Arisa, always had a youthful aura. They matched the chocolate color of her hair, as well, which was thick and reached past her shoulders. She was an average height, her outfit of choice being long, but fitting, sweatshirts with a pair of jeans that complimented her hips and figure. She had jagged slant-cut bangs that framed her face in a way that made her look a little wild, adding another sense of youthfulness that seemed to bring out the not-so-tame wild side in the young men. Her personality was, in some way that of a Spartan; do things the simplest way when it s effective and do it well. She was, in a word, independent, which her friends had assumed intimidated those wanting to ask her to the dance. Mara had pointed out, more than once, to her Geometry teacher that she didn't need the six billion steps to complete the problem when it could be done in two. It had caused a bit of frustration to the teacher, much to the amusement of the class.

Kris was smaller than average and thin as well. It was hard to imagine that she could leg-press almost three hundred pounds, she was strong and athletic. She had hair that was dark as a raven's wing and eyes that was the color of leaves when sunlight filtered through them. It was a beautiful and rare color, and it was something she prided herself on. She had a round face and narrow features, and her curly hairs only made her look more exotic, especially as she moved like an assassin. She was a loner, definitely not a people person, save for her close friends, and the fact that she'd even managed to get friends had been astonishing to her. She liked to be alone, to keep to her thoughts, and the people she did know well enough to even call acquaintances where often the broken variety. She would help them, give them therapy of sorts, and then she would leave. Some would think she would feel lonely, helping all these stupid people who couldn t help herself, but she preferred it that way. She despised opening up to others, and she rarely did to her best two friends. Something had kept her with these two, and it was something she was sure she did not want to lose.

Hey, hey! I bet I know what it is! Mara suddenly said excitedly. I think I know what it is, Arisa! She held up a finger in realization, and looked extremely proud of herself.

Well, said Kris skeptically, What is it, then?

We re getting a new student! She said, her tone somehow becoming even more excited. I think that his name s Axley...or something. I m not sure the teacher was even informed on the situation.

Kris snorted. What kind of a name is Axley?

I see that we re in our normal, anti-social mood today. Arisa sighed. Still, play nice now. Maybe he'll be in our classes, Kris."

After years of experience, and advice given to them from her previous schools, the administrators at her school had seen fit to put her in the same classes as Arisa, simply because Kris did not get along with other people.

Kris nodded. Maybe, she looked down thoughtfully. Although, this Axley kid has got to have at least one class with Mara, she knew about it.

The ringing bell let them know that school was about to start, and with a sweeping movement like that of an assassin, Kris had gotten everyone's respective backpacks into their hands and she was headed to the door.

How do you do that?! Mara demanded. It s like you don t even move!

"Mad, mad skills." Kris said simply, smirking in triumph. "Arisa can move like that, too, when she's not tripping over ladybugs or something." Kris cracked a wry grin, "Or an oxygen atom. Who knows?"

"You can stop now there, Kris." Arisa grumbled, irritation and a tad bit of amusement flashing in her eyes. She knew it was true. She may move gracefully, but that never saved her from falling on her face, tripping, knocking things over, and generally being a klutz.

Mara waved at them then. "Alright, you both have fun in English Class now," she smiled.

Kris cast Mara an awkward glace, while Arisa nodded and smiled. "Of course we will!" She smiled widely and then she and Kris headed outside the door.

Walking shoulder to shoulder and in step, the duo left Mara to go to her first period. This was a morning ritual, and it had been. Kris and Arisa where tight as thieves, it was impossible to imagine one without the tagging other close by while they were at school; on weekends, almost religiously, Kris was found at Arisa's house. Mara took no offence to the fact that the two were so close, most of the time they made room for her anyway. Mara was the newest addition, and so she was the one who knew the least, had been on fewer adventures, and had simply experienced less. That, and Kris had a bad habit of shutting people out. It had taken months for Kris to even speak to Mara.

Arisa thought about that on her walk over. How are you going to treat the new kid Axley, was it? I know that you don t really like people...but you ve been getting better. You actually say hello to people when I introduce them to you now. Arisa noticed the slight lift in Kris s cheek. Kris was smiling, the one and only sign of admittance. Arisa continued on, What if he comes up to you, and says hello? Then what?

Kris s walk slowed, and for a second the sudden change in Kris s expression reminded her, for the second time, of the day that they had met. The scene flashed before her eyes.

Kris had walked into the classroom, with a face void of any emotion. The teacher had introduced her, and then she had sat down. She said nothing, nor did she even move to look at anyone. Arisa had noticed that first about Kris. She was quiet, like a ghost. Like something that did not exist, despite the poking and prodding of her peers and the endless stream of questions. Recess came mercifully for Kris, and she was out the door first and into the schoolyard. Arisa kept a close eye on her as she sat down in the shade and ignored all the children there.

Some of the girls from her class did not like that Kris had not said anything. Three of them approached her in the school yard as Arisa watched from afar.

"Hey. You." One said, pointing. "How come you won't talk?"

Without looking, Kris shrugged and pulled her knees to her chest defensively. She knew what was coming next.

"What, are you too good to say anything? What's wrong with you?" The second one said.

The third nodded, following her lead. "You think you re better than us?"

Kris didn't even so much as blink at them. She didn't look, she didn't even move, she would let the insults come.

"Say something!" The first girl demanded, swinging a kick at Kris. That's when Arisa decided to intervene.

"Hey! Stop that!" She yelled at the girls."What makes you think you re good enough to beat her up, huh? What makes you so special?"

As she had wanted them too, the girls turned to Arisa. "What do you care? The new kid won't talk, it s not like she's your friend! Stop defending her, she'll speak up and defend herself once she's put into her place!"

"You re wrong. Sometimes people just don't want to talk to idiots like you." Arisa growled fiercely. "You re not the queen of anything, and you are not about to go beating people up just because you don't like their attitude. I don't like yours, and I'm not kicking you. Now go away before I call a teacher."

"And if we don't, Blondie? I'm not scared of a teacher!" the girl said. Her friends backed her up, echoing with small yeahs.

Arisa stood still for a second, and then said, "Then I will just have to fight you, huh?"

This was answered with a laugh from the ringleader of the three girls. "Alright, I dare you to hit me back!"

Arisa paled. She knew she wasn't much for fighting, but why not? The ringleader threw the first punch, and then

"I'm going to have to ask you not to do that," said a voice. It was small, high like any little girls, but somehow darker and almost lethal. Arisa blinked in surprise. At near-lightning speed, Kris had leapt from the ground and grabbed the ringleader's wrist, thwarting the punch about to be dealt. "Three to one really is not fair." For the first time, Kris met the ringleader's eyes. It was unnecessary to do so with the others, as her fast movement had already made them jump back a ways. Kris tossed back her dark curls, displaying a glare like no other, the sheer venom in her eyes even made Arisa cringe, and she wasn t even the one being looked at. Kris let the girl go with one tiny command, "Leave." The gang did so, surprised, at an almost sprint.

"I'm sorry about that," Arisa said, turning to Kris, who had angled her eyes back to the ground. "But I don't think they'll bother you again. That was really cool!" She grinned, as if Kris was an old friend.

Kris kept her eyes at the ground, but she shifted her weight and muttered, "Really?"

"Yeah!" Arisa insisted, nodding. "They've been terrorizing people for years, so it was nice to see them getting a dose of their own medicine. What you did was good for everyone."

Kris's breath caught for a second then, and she pushed the dark hair from her eyes with one awkward finger, and looked up, straight into Arisa's eyes. Good? Her eyes where bright green, and had the oddest expression, like she d never been told she was good in her life. Really? She gave an awkward, chuckling snort.

Arisa was startled by her, but then, Yeah.

And Kris, for the first time in a long time, smiled.

Arisa shook her head, pulling back to reality, and looked back at Kris, in the present now. It had taken a long time for Arisa to get through to Kris, and sometimes she still had problems. After all of this time, she still had never been to Kris s house, and Kris never spoke about her parents. It bothered her, but Kris hid herself away from people, she lived in a shadow and did not like crowds, or anything of the like. People in general. Arisa still wasn t sure why, but it was just how Kris had always been. Although Kris may not like people, but she was full of good advice when Arisa asked.

I...don t know. Kris finally said. I m not used to people just coming up to me. I give off a, stay away vibe. But enough about me, what about you? She said quickly, switching the conversation completely around.

I ll be nice, of course! Arisa laughed. People don t like me much, either, you realize.

Kris made a noise similar to blowing a raspberry at Arisa. Yeah they do. Guys really like you.

Only creepy ones.

Arisa!

Sorry.

Furthermore, you re friendly. You make people come alive! Kris nodded as if agreeing with herself. so to speak, she added quickly. What if this kid decides he likes you?

Well, then he better be cute. Arisa smiled jokingly as she pushed the door open to the first class of the day. They made it into their seats as the bell rang, and the teacher began to speak, or drone, rather.

So, class, as some of you may know, we are to be getting a new student to the school today. He just transferred here, and he should be here any minute. Now, I want you all to be on your best behavior today, and I want you all to treat him nicely and welcome him to the new school, alright? The teacher spoke with fake joy, trying to make it sound like she was their friend. It was so obnoxious.

Kris turned to Arisa. Does she really need to feel the need to talk to us like we re five? This is honestly getting old.

The teacher barreled on through Kris s mutters and Arisa s giggles, and said, Now, instead of taking role silently today while you all work, I am going to call it out once the new student is settled in. He will be sitting next to Arisa, as that seems to be our only empty seat.

Arisa raised an eyebrow but said nothing. How typical that it would be her, of all people, to get to sit with the new kid.

I m going to call names, and I want everyone to raise hands. This should help the new student with the names. Got it?

Got it. The class echoed back, just as the door opened, just as the class turned to look, at the new student that had just walked into class.

"Ah, Hello." The boy grinned as he walked into the class, waving as he noticed all eyes where on him.

"Oh...you're here!" The teacher said, caught mostly off guard by the boy's sudden appearance. "Everyone, this is Axel, our new student."

Kris raised her eyebrows at the new student, Arisa had, too. The boy had really, REALLY spiky red hair bright enough that it could probably be seen off campus on a clear day. He had clear skin and bright green eyes, and he looked as though he may be wearing eyeliner. His facial tattoos, small drops just below his eyes, gave him a slightly exotic look, the fact that he was tall helped that out a bit. "That's A-X-E-L, got it memorized?" He grinned as if he fit in, completely unaware that something like him had probably never come through the halls of Colonial High School not that Kris or Arisa knew just how accurate that assumption was.

I ll bet you ten bucks he s gay. Kris mumbled mockingly, smirking. Her only response was a light shove from Arisa.

"Okay, Axel," The teacher said. "If you would, please take a seat." She gestured at the empty seat beside Arisa, and Kris noted something in the pause before he began to move. He was looking at Arisa, summing her up. Or checking her out so much for the gay theory.

He locked eyes with Arisa, and his expression became almost...shy, and then he moved to the seat beside her. Kris again raised an eyebrow at the youth, but then heard him speak.

"Hey, uh, it s alright if I sit here?" He asked, almost a little sheepishly.

"Of course. It s the only empty seat, so where else could you sit, on the floor?" Arisa said warmly, and having known her long enough, Kris could hear the smile in her voice. Granted, Arisa greeted anything she was sure wasn't going to eat her or something of the like, so it was no surprise that she was at it now. However, this was a little different. Her tone was a little weirder with this boy, and although it was weird, Kris knew this one, too. It meant that Arisa had seen something in the boy that she thought was good, and she was now about to introduce him to her. Kris sucked in a breath of air and waited for the greetings to begin.

Arisa, hearing the air getting sucked in by Kris, allowed her smile to grow a little. She hoped the new kid would not pick up on the fact that she was now about to use him as another chance to help socialize and help Kris with making new friends and getting used to people. Arisa leaned back so that Axel could see Kris beyond her as he sat down. "I'm Arisa. This is my friend Kris."

"Hey, Kris." Axel smiled, raising a hand.

Kris tilted her chin up a little at him. "Yo."

This greeting resulted in a raised eyebrow on Axels part, but it obviously did not bother him as role began to get called and he started to chat with Arisa. I m sorry, Arisa said. She s a little anti-social.

Well, I can see that. Axel replied. But she s not the first anti-social person I ve dealt with. He grinned. Pretty normal, where I come from.

Kris raised her eyebrows again. Normal? she whispered under her breath. This went unnoticed by Axel and Arisa, thankfully.

Where are you from, Axel? Arisa asked curiously. I mean--I m sure I m not the first person to ask, and I m sure that I ll get annoying, but I m curious. And for good reason. Arisa had barely ever left the City. When people moved in from new places, she was always wondering what it was like beyond this small town. Kris usually entertained her with stories of a place thick with woods, and a stream that ran through it, a stream was full of minnows and fossil rocks. There where thick, dead grapevines that hung across the stream at a certain point like Christmas garland, and right beside these was a giant rock you could sit upon, like a throne in a medieval castle. If you sat long enough and listened hard enough sometimes you could hear the trees whispering to each other. There was another place with mountains that reached up so high into a sky so blue it was hard to imagine anything existing beyond the color. These places, the ones Kris spoke of often, had entertained Arisa for months. Sometimes, when Kris mentioned something that Arisa had yet to hear about, Arisa would find herself entranced again by these lands. But other people meant other places, and more lands that Arisa would one day plan to see.

No, no, its fine. Axel said. I m not really new here, I ve lived here awhile but I was home schooled, and I didn t go out often. He explained, shrugging. I asked if I could spend the rest of the year here with kids my age and they thankfully agreed, so here I am. That grin again, Kris noted Arisa s automatic response to the grin, which was to return the boy s smile.

Oh I see, Arisa said, her voice a little disappointed. Oh, well. I thought maybe you were from someplace new that I could learn about. She turned a little pink, as if telling him that where somewhat embarrassing, she looked down at the desk, folding her hands in front of her.

Oh well, no--Don t be sad! Axel looked a little desperate to keep her from getting upset. He groaned silently to himself, and put his chin on the desk. The teacher started up a lecture at that moment, and so Kris had to drop her voice back down into a whisper as she spoke to Axel again.

Hey, she s not upset. She just isn t sure how to react to you yet. She met you five minutes ago. Her voice was low and flat, but Axel s eyes moved to looked at her all the same as he gave a little, Oh.

They actually paid attention to the lecture after that, and when the bell rung, they all stood, and Arisa was able to see just how tall this Axel was in comparison. He was taller than her, and since she towered over Kris, Axel noticed Kris s small size. Whoa, you sure you re a High School student? He asked jokingly.

Of course I m sure. Kris half-smiled, I m just a pixie.

Really?! Axel asked as though he really bought it.

No. Kris and Arisa said in unison, Arisa with amusement and Kris bluntly, rolling her eyes.

I, ah, oh. Axel said sheepishly, glancing down at his feet as though he had done something bad. Although, even to Kris, all he d done at this point was be guilty of being a little gullible, it seemed. Maybe in his household that was a bad thing?

Walking into the mid-morning sunshine, Mara met up with them like she normally did, completely unfazed by the fact that they now had a tall redhead with them. Hey guys! she called.

Her first class, Chemistry, had once again not allowed her to leave unscathed. Her bangs were now pinned haphazardly out of her face, and the rest of her hair pulled back into a messy half-pulled-through pony tail, her classic sweater under her arm, and the rolled up sleeves let them know that once again Mara had been playing with dangerous substances again.

So this must be our new guy, huh? She said, bouncing like a hyper little kid did when they were about to get candy, staring up at his face, then his hair, then back down to his face. Nice to meet you! She said in a singsong voice, greeting him like she would anyone else.

Hi. Axel said simply, smiling back.

Hate to interrupt, Arisa said suddenly. But we need to get to class like now. Axel, do you know where you re going?

Axel nodded that he did, and then Mara said, Aw, it s alright if we re late just this once, guys! she whined. And have any of you seen Bunny? Bunny was Mara s boyfriend s nickname. This was because he brought carrots to school for lunch about every day. His closest associates, Arisa and Kris included, all called him The Bunny now.

Nah, but I m sure Bunny will be at lunch, Mara. Kris said. But I m with Arisa, we need to go now.

After a quick goodbye, they were all on the way to their respective classes.  
:- - -: Axel took a seat in the back of his next class, which was absent of any of the three he had just met. Though he didn t really know them, they reminded him of someone, someone he had once known. Someone he missed, someone named Roxas. Roxas had been his best friend, and in the end, Axel had lost him. Roxas had made Axel feel like he had a heart. Strange for a Nobody, since the lack of hearts meant that they were not supposed to be able to feel anything. Roxas had allowed him to do that for the first time in a long time, and so had Roxas somebody, Sora. Sora had fought beside him the last time Axel was supposed to have died, and instead have ended up here. Something weird was going on here, and not just the lack of heartless. The three girls he had just met, Arisa, Kris and Mara, had all done the same thing that Roxas had. But this was different, because they were different from anyone he had ever met. Despite obvious personality differences, the three seemed to be powerful, yet not knowing about it. Those three had something to do with the lack of heartless, and he could feel that in his bones, in his very being. But what? Arisa, especially, confused him. She may seem to be powerful, she may make him feel like he, himself, had his own heart, but she made him feel something else, too. Something he had a hard time wrapping his head around, and he wanted to bang his head on the desk for it.


	2. Chapter 2: What a Bottle Message Starts

Hello everyone! Time for chapter two! That said, a quick shout to Aristaline, who edited it this time. :D Yaay! Sorry the update took so long -- Corey is was being slow. -sigh-

Kris: Nobody cares about your problems.

Me: No one cares about _you_.

Kris: I'm also a figment of your imagination. An antisocial one at that. I don't care if nobody cares about me. You, however...

Me: You know what? Just get out of here! On with the show!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN KINGDOM HEARTS OR THE CHARACTERS THEREIN. ALL OTHERS ARE OF MY OWN DESIGN.

Heeere we go Chapter Two!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER TWO: WHAT A BOTTLE MESSAGE STARTS

Home. They were home.

It was still hard to grasp, still hard to handle, after fighting so hard for so long just to get back here and find one another and make things go back to how it had been before. Just to be back in the sun, by the ocean, on a sandy beach, in a tree house overlooking the water, it was a hard concept to grasp.

Home.

Sora sighed and leaned against the Paopu Tree, Riku was sitting its trunk. The tree grew strangely, on its own little island it ran parallel along the ground until arcing upward, topped with thick palm leaves and ripe, star-shaped orange fruit. He dug his shoe into the sand, as Riku continued to stare out across the water, which was painted brilliantly by the setting sun in hues of orange and pink and the occasional hint of violet. Nothing had changed since they had left. After everything, and all things considered, it was nice.

Riku was the one to give voice to these thoughts. "Nothing's changed, has it?" he asked, his platinum hair rippling in the ocean breeze, the collar of his vest moving in cadence with the wind. Besides that, he was almost perfectly still.

Sora blinked and looked up at Riku, about to answer when he was cut off suddenly.

"Sora! Riku!" The two boys jumped at the sound of their names, even if the voice was a familiar one. They turned to see her running to them, out of breath and clutching something in her hand with a death grip, as though it might suddenly fly away.

"Kairi?" Sora began as she skidded to a stop in front of him, doubled over and panting, trying to catch her breath. She was still clutching the object to her chest. Riku looked down from the tree, eyebrows raised. Before either could say much more, Kairi held the object out with a slightly shaking hand.

"Look!" she said, tone excited, exasperated, and worried all at the same time. It was a glass bottle, clear, transparent. A cork sealed its top, keeping what was inCide dry, a certain something that caught everyone's eyes and had Sora hastily pulling the cork out and tossing it aCide, emptying the contents and then dropping the bottle. Riku leapt from the tree to stand beCide Sora as Kairi inched closer as Sora yanked the paper open.

Starkly viable on the back was the King's trademark seal. The three read the letter, all wondering what it could be; what was it that they hadn't been told? The King, Goofy, and Donald had all been to visit not long before hand, so why send the bottle? What was forgotten to be said that needed a bottle-message?

That message read:

_"Dear Sora, Riku, and Kairi. _

_I don't know how long it's been since I've found a planet not familiar with the name 'Heartles;' a world that has never seen or heard about the threat that the Heartless posed to their planet and their existence._

_As Goofy, Donald and I traveled home, we got off course a little bit, and found a planet not on our maps and not showing on any chart. When we tried to find out why the planet wasn't showing up, we couldn't find any of the normal markers that alert the ship to a planet. I think something is off about this planet, and, as I figure it, if we can't find the marker, then the Heartless and Nobodies are unable to do so as well._

_Not all the heartless are destroyed, there is no way to get them all; so when it comes right down to it, its possible that that planet we have just found has something that may allow the heartless to come back with greater numbers and try again. Nobodies have the same ability, and the last thing we need is for them to gain power again._

_We realize you just got home not more than a few weeks ago, but something about this planet is fishy. According to the data, this planet should be dead yet it is thriving with life. I hate to ask this of you three, but would you go and see what's up with it? Donald, Goofy and I are already there. We left you a three-person Gummy Pod in the wooden deck below the tree house. Please, we need you guys.  
~ King Mickey,"  
_  
Sora looked up from the bottle message. "A world without heartless…" Sora's voice dwindled off, "A world that has never even seen them…what do you think that means, exactly?"

"It means exactly what it said. No one knows what the heartless are on that planet. One would think that it was best to leave them be and spare them the trouble." Riku said, pondering the concept, "But according to what the king is saying, there is no way that this is just because the heartless missed it."

"Well, yeah, it said that to the heartless the world doesn't even exist…it doesn't have the normal markers a planet would have that a Heartless would use to recognize it." Kairi pointed out.

"Let's go check it out, then!" Sora declared, "Goofy and Donald and the King left us a Gummy Ship, apparently, it's just a matter of figuring out how to get to it." Sora suggested, looking between Riku and Kairi.

"But…Sora, you don't drive very well." Kairi mumbled, nudging him in the ribs with an elbow a little bit.

"Thanks, Kairi." Sora groaned sarcastically. "I can too drive! And it's not like you can drive, either—so don't start with me!"

"I'll have you know that I am a very good driver, thank you." Kairi scoffed, pulling on one of the brown spikes that made up Sora's hair.

"Stop bickering you two!" Riku laughed, and then turned suddenly serious. "I'll drive us. I'm pretty good at it."—He shrugged—"I had time to practice, I guess."

"Ugh, I can't believe we're about to leave again. I mean, we did just get back." Sora moaned and leaned against the tree again, folding his arms behind his head. "I mean, normally I would love to go, but this is just…"

"Sora, it won't be like last time," Kairi pointed out to the spiky-haired youth, "This is just us going to see if everything is alright. We'll go and come back, at most it'll take a few days. Nothing bad. C'mon, let's go find the ship." She urged him to go with them as Sora looked back and forth between Kairi and Riku, who had obviously Cided with Kairi on this one. So Sora, undoubtedly, agreed to go.

The Trio half jogged to the deck, where Tidus used to practice before the world had been plunged into darkness by the heartless. Riku and Sora had yet to see him, and they were wondering just how tall the younger boy had gotten during the time that they had not seen him, but for now that thought was pushed aCide. They had to focus on finding the gummy ship.

"You think there's a trap door?" Sora thought aloud, looking downward.

"What are we going to do, stomp on it until it opens?" Kairi asked skeptically.

"Well, yeah. Stomp all over until we find the door," Riku rolled his eyes. "Then what, fall through and try not to hurt ourselves? There has to be a better way than that. Sora, you sure the letter didn't have any directions?"

"You say that I can't read?" Sora said, tone slightly irritated; he'd missed this too, the teasing and the constant contests. Riku was right, nothing had changed.

Kairi walked over to where a coil of rope sat, completely unnoticed by the corner railing of the deck. "Guys, what if they put it under the rope?" Kairi asked, turning backward to look at the two boys and raising an eyebrow. "That rope has always been here, so it makes sense."

"Good idea, Kairi," Sora grinned as Riku walked over to where the rope coil was, lifting it and tossing it aCide with ease.

"Hey, Sora! She was right." Riku grinned at Kairi, "Here it is."

Straightening up, Riku lifted his right foot and kicked down, hard, breaking the door open, and somehow managing to not fall into the hole. Riku looked back up, brushing his hair from his face. "Who would like to go first?" He turned again, peering down into the blankness of the decks inCide.

"How far down do you think it goes?" Kairi asked, also looking down; there was no light, and no way to see down into the darkness. Riku shrugged as Sora walked up to join them.

"Doesn't really matter, does it? I mean, the king made this, so we won't get hurt," Sora said. "At least, we shouldn't…" He shrugged.

There was a moment while they all stood still and silent, looking down the hole into the blackness, trying hard to make anything out that may–or may not–be inCide. Riku's head snapped up and looked at the others, waiting a little longer. "Well don't jump at the same time, guys…"

Sora laughed and with that said, "I call shotgun!" and leapt into the hole. He landed with a small 'oof' on a padded surface. It was still dark inCide, and Sora looked up to the speck of light that was the trap door. He wondered how far down this really was and how the king had managed to make it without attracting the attention of himself, Kairi, Riku, and others that came to visit this island; but then, some things went better unasked.

Sora cupped his hands around his mouth and called out to his friends on the deck above. "C'mon, guys! It's alright! The floor has padding!" He yelled, his voice echoing off the walls of the inner-deck.

With that, the lights turned on, and things began to whirl, there were suddenly lots of noises and brilliant flashes. Everything had started to turn on! Apparently all they would have to do was yell into the hole. Figures.

The place Sora was standing was like a giant pillow, obviously meant to catch people. The walls of this inner deck were light blue and steal gray, normally a slightly colorless scheme, but it seemed to work well here, especially with the brightly colored repair, upkeep machines and the whirling, flashing lights. All of this surrounded a circular platform made of steel. On this sat what they had come down looking for: the Gummy Ship. It was nice to see one again, Sora had to admit, despite the fact that they had a similar one not long ago. Well, he had with Donald and Goofy; still, regardless, it was a really nice Gummy Ship!

It was blue and green in color, and was sleek, just a little wider than the one that he, Donald and Goofy had used. As well, it was pod-shaped, along with weapon turrets beneath the stout wings of the craft, and it shiny as though it had just been painted!

"Sora! Look out!" Riku suddenly called, from above.

"Wha…?" Sora started, looking up—only to be squashed by Riku.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow.." Sora mumbled underneath Riku.

"Ugh, Sora. I told you to look out." Riku said, beginning to stand to allow Sora to get back onto his feet.

"I'm coming down guys!" Kairi's voice echoed from the Trap Door opening. "Here I go!"

"Wait, Kairi!" Sora called, but too late—Kairi had landed on Riku, who fell back over and crashed into Sora a second time. He groaned and allowed himself to rest his head on the ground; Riku coughed, obviously winded.

"Sorry, sorry!" Kairi said sheepishly, scrambling away from the accident site.

Riku gingerly moved off of Sora, clutching at the collar of his shirt and still trying to recover from the sudden winding that Kairi had brought on. Sora stood up slowly, and was amazed that he himself wasn't winded, and that he, for the most part, wasn't sore. "Uhm…you alright, Riku?" he asked Riku, who was bracing himself against a wall.

Riku nodded, waved, and allowed himself another cough. Sora knew by now that if something was bothering him he wasn't going to show it, it was just how Riku was, and always had been.

"I'm so sorry, guys!" Kairi apologized again.

Sora laughed and Riku turned to smile, he still wasn't quite up to talking status yet. "Its alright, Kairi! It was an accident." He shrugged. "Anyway, we really need to figure out how to get the Gummy Ship to launch…"

"Sora, didn't you and Goofy and Donald use a gummy ship?" Riku raised an eyebrow, talking but still slightly panting. "Don't you know how to operate one?"

"Well," Sora drew out the word a little longer causing Riku to roll his eyes; it was fairly easy to guess what was coming next. "For launch we had Chip and Dale to help us out, and then the one time I did drive I crashed us into a boulder… Donald wouldn't let me drive after that," Sora said sheepishly, blushing a little with embarrassment.

"In that case, do you think that the king would have left us instructions?" Kairi thought aloud.

"Or maybe it's all automated?" Riku added, easing himself back off the wall. It was nice to see that he he was recovering from being winded quickly.

"Well, we should get inCide the Gummy Ship then and find out!" Sora inquired excitedly, wanting to go. He may have just gotten home, but the thought of adventure had him stoked and ready to go once again, though he decided that when they got back from this adventure he was going to stay put for awhile.

"What are we waiting for, then?" Riku asked, stepping out onto the steel launch platform. As soon as he did, there were some beeping and flashing lights. The trio looked around at the sound; the King had certainly made a flashy garage for the Gummy Ship. A door on the Cide opened and Riku hopped inCide, looking around at the interior.

It looked like a normal ship: three chairs sat up inCide the cockpit where the teens could sit, in front of a panel of buttons and controls. The cockpit held the only window, shaped like a dome across the front of the ship, the visibility was crystal clear.

Riku walked forward, sat down into the middle chair, and, to his surprise, it was actually rather comfortable. He settled in as the others walked inCide.

Kairi hummed. "How are we going to live in here for very long? I don't see any provisions."

Sora's stomach growled a little in response. "Heh, No kidding!" he grinned. "Our Gummy Ship at least had a kitchen in it."

"I'm sure that we'll be fine, and think of it this way, no provisions means that this will be a short trip," Riku said, smiling at his friends. "C'mon, strap in. I don't want anyone flying into the bulkhead or something."

"Aye, sir." Sora laughed and strapped himself into the seat to the right, and Kairi took the one to left.

"Okay, so. Starting this thing…ah," Riku's voice trailed off as he examined the long panel of buttons, switches and lights before him. He found the round of a key and took that as a good sign and gave it a twist.

An engine revved and suddenly the ship was on and functioning, the launching pad responded to the vibration of the ship and suddenly they were hearing a computer's voice resound through the ship, counting down. Riku looked at his friends, Kairi was leaning back into her seat, and Sora had a childish grin spread across his face.

"Three… two… one…" With that, they were tilted upward so that they were pressed completely into the backs of the seats and staring up into the ceiling, which started to pull back to form an opening.

"Hey, I wonder if anyone will see this?" Sora asked, still grinning.

Soon, they were ejected from the launch pad and into the sky. Kairi let out a scream that started as fear but soon morphed into excitement. Before long, Sora and Kairi were laughing hysterically, like it was a roller coaster! They began to coast, so Sora unbuckled himself and stood up, examining the panel of buttons before him. Kairi and Riku watched for a second as he looked. It seemed to them that he was looking for something.

"Sora, what are you looking for?" Kairi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I had this friend, Cid, who worked on our Gummy ship for us. He installed a button that we could use to contact him…I was thinking that it's possible that a button here may let us call him…Here we go, found it!" Sora grinned.

"It's not a bad idea," Riku shrugged, "He might know something about the place we're headed."

With that, Sora pressed the large yellow button. It was amazing that he had not found it sooner, conCidering that it had the words 'PUSH ME' in big letters inscribed on it. There was a slight buzzing sound as an image came up on the screen, and there was a large clattering noise as they watched.

"What in the world is goin' on?" they heard an irritable voice mutter. Wiping his hands on his shirt, they watched as Cid entered the screen. It seemed like it took him a minute to process just what he was looking at, and then; "Hey, Kiddo!" He beamed at Sora and then nodded to Kairi and Riku. "And good morning to you," he added. "How did you manage to get in contact with me?"

"We got a new Gummy Ship, and the King asked us to go somewhere for him. Something about a world without the normal markers of a world—He wanted us to meet him there," Sora explained.

"So that's what he needed the new Gummy Ship for!" Cid delcared, as though the matter should have been obvious. He looked over his shoulder as a door clicked open, Cid moved the piece of straw in the corner of his mouth as he addressed the person that had come it. "Hey, Leon. Yer never gunna guess who's on the screen!"

"Who is it?" Leon's voice drifted into the camera's receivers, and soon he appeared by Cid a faction of a second later. "Sora!" He allowed a small smile to touch his lips.

"Hey, Leon" Sora beamed back.

"Sora's on the screen?" A female voice asked, and then the screen became crowded as Areth, Leon, and Cid vied for a section of the screen. "Sora!" she greeted him warmly.

"Jeeze. You made a lot of friends, Mr. Popularity," Riku teased.

"Hello! I'm Areth." Areth beamed, turning to the other two for a second. "You must be Sora's friends, Kairi and Riku. We've heard all about you; it's nice to finally see your faces," she smiled, almost in a maternal way. It seemed to be part of her nature.

Kairi smiled back and both she and Riku said hello. There was a fourth voice then, muffled and slightly irritated.

"Sora's on the phone! Hey! I want to talk to Sora!" Yuffie said, jumping up and down behind the others. Eventually she pushed her way into the view of the camera, and brushing her black bangs out of her face, smiled broadly. "Hi, Sora!"

"Hey, Yuffie."

"So, Sora!" Cid said, getting irritated with the endless stream of greetings. "Why'd you leave yer planet so soon?"

"Well, the King sent us a message in a bottle." Sora said.

"Really?" Cid said, Yuffie let her mouth fall open in an unmusically dramatic way while Areth and Leon raised their eyebrows.

"Yeah." Riku said. "The King said something about a planet that doesn't have any planetary markers. As in it's not getting picked up on his Navigation charts, nor by the Heartless. It's completely untouched."

"Well, then, why not leave it alone?" Areth asked.

"The King said that the Heartless may find the planet one day, and because of the lack of markers the planet may one day succumb and allow the Heartless to gain an advantage once again," Kairi said.

"Every planet has markers. That is how a Navigation Gummy works; it follows the signatures of a planet's heart," Cid said in a matter-of-fact tone. "The only way that the Navigation Gummy would not pick up on it is if it had no heart, and if it had no heart, then it would not exist." Cid was a Gummy Mechanic. He knew the ships like the back of his hands. He prided himself on his work, and it would pain him if one of his Navigation Gummies failed.

"What if… the planet has a heart without darkness?" Yuffie asked, glancing between Leon, Areth, and Cid.

"What do you mean, Yuffie? All hearts have darkness… except…" Leon trialed off, almost as if he was beginning to understand what Yuffie meant.

"Right! No darkness! Kairi is like that, too, remember? She's one of the Seven Princesses," Yuffie said, her excitement visibly becoming more obvious. Kairi sat up, looking curiously at the black-haired youth.

"That still doesn't explain the lack of Heartless," Cid pointed out, but he seemed to like this more than he did a theory on about one of his Navigation Gummies being faulty.

"Well, it's like when she lost her heart but no heartless was created, it was because she has no darkness." Yuffie said, glancing at Kairi and giving her a small smile. "All hearts have darkness in them, save for the Seven Princesses, but what if a world had that, too? Then the world might have different markers, and then that would make it impossible to track in on a normal Navigation Gummy, and it would make it so the Heartless didn't exist there! With no Darkness, they can't find it, because that's what they feed off of." Yuffie grinned at her theory. It was a good one, and it fit all the pieces.

"Well, I guess you'll just have to go see if Yuffie is right," Leon agreed, folding his arms. "It's a good theory."

"Right-o! Let's get this show on the road, shall we?" Cid said, clapping his hands together and shooing the others away. "My name is Cid and I will be you're tour guide for this evening though the cosmos!"

Riku, Kairi and Sora couldn't help the smiles forming on their faces. "Sora, your friends are weird," Riku and Kairi said together.

Sora nodded in agreement, turning to look at his two companions in the Gummy Ship. "Yep. I know," he grinned.

Cid got to work at the computer, taking the travel logs from a Navigation Gummy on the King's Ship. Unable to find the planet by the markers, Cid spent about an hour looking for it in the patterns of the Navigation Gummy files, looking for the right patterns in the numbers that would give him the code….

"Bingo!" he yelled triumphantly, causing the three to jump in their seats, "I got it!"

So, about how long do you think it will be until we get there? I don't know about these two, but I'm getting hungry and we don't have provisions," Kairi whined.

"Now hold on to your britches, Missy." Cid smiled at Kairi. "I guarantee you've got provisions on that ship someplace. Now let me do some calculations…"

Kairi unbuckled herself and stood, smoothing the wrinkles in her pink skirt before stretching and walking into the back of the ship, where she found nothing. She just needed to move was all, and she walked in a circle in the back of the ship. "I really, really, wish we had a kitchen or something that we can use to cook some food… and a pantry," she mumbled.

"You forgot to eat breakfast again, huh?" Sora laughed, turning around.

"Kitchen Pantry!" an automated voice said loudly, causing the trio to jump. Suddenly, there was a chair beneath Kairi, and then panels in the wall slid back and out came counters, cabinets, a sink, stove, microwave, and a refrigerator. In the center sat a table and right on top of it a fat cook book.

Kairi, Riku and Sora stared at the cabinetry for a second. Even Cid had looked up from his calculations and let out a whistle. "So that's what that thing is supposed to do! I've been curious about how this sort of Gummy Ship operates, as it just came out. Everyone, may I introduce you to the Excalibur 5000? Meant for extended trips, the Excalibur comes stocked with food, and anything from bedrooms to bathrooms to a kitchen can appear in the back Cabin via button or voice activation, any room you can find in a normal house is on that panel there."

"That's why it's got so many buttons." Riku muttered, "Good to know."

"Well, what do you guys want to eat?" Kairi asked, smiling as she pulled an apron off the counter and slipped it on over her head, tying the back and smoothing the wrinkles from the front.

"Well, what do you want, Kairi? You're the one cooking today," Sora said, walking back to join Kairi in the kitchen.

"I'll help Cid with the coordinates, okay guys?" Riku half called, half asked, turning back to receive a fax that Cid had just sent them, and got to work.

"Alright, Riku," Sora said. "I'll help cook dinner with Kairi."

Sora grabbed another apron from the counter and put it on. The pair then went to sit at the little table, heaving open the cookbook, then flipping through the smooth, thin pages trying to find just what was being searched for: a yummy dinner recipe! Now, while all of them may be yummy it was another thing to find one that they felt like eating. Eventually, though, something rather common but still delicious was decided upon. Spaghetti.

Sora went to grab the noodles and a can of sauce, as they were a bit out of Kairi's reach. She found a large pot and filled it with water, then placed it onto the stove. Together, they waited for it to begin to bubble and boil so that they could begin to cook the noodles.

When it came time to prepare the sauce, there was a small argument on whether or not they should put sausage in it, and while fighting over the can they managed to open it and proceed to spill it all over themselves and the floor. Sora grabbed a mop while Kairi finished cooking the Spaghetti. No sausage was added to the sauce this time.

Other then the noise in the kitchen that died after the little incident with the sauce, (As Kairi and Sora where now covered in it,) the only sound were Cid and Riku whispering about the coordinates and the best ways to figure them out. When they finally got it, with relieved smiles and exasperated sighs that dinner was finished and Cid put the screen in a transparent STANDBY mode to get his own dinner that Riku stood, stretched, and walked back to partake in his portion of the Spaghetti. He and Sora both began to wolf it down, thanking Kairi and deciding that she was a fantastic spaghetti cook, although the last time they had tried her cookies had been five years ago and Kairi had burnt them to a crisp, thus making them the most disgusting thing that the boys had eaten at the time. Secretly, the two had later agreed to never eat her food again. Now, apparently, lessons had been taken and the food was no longer burnt.

"Haha, I'm glad you two like it." Kairi grinned, happy they had tried the food. "So, Riku, did you and Cid find the planet that we're looking for yet?"

"Yes, it's close, between Hollow Bastion and Traverse Town. Cid can't believe that it's never been found, with it being so nearby. He said it's in a good place, too. The alignment is such that it's not in a normal travel way, and because of its weird markers it's not connected to any part of the normal skyways, either. This planet is hidden really, really well," he said through large bites of the shoelace-length noodles covered in red tomato sauce.

"Wow, no kidding." Sora said. "For all the times Donald, Goofy and I went through there one would think we would have found it, or picked up on it at least." Sora said.

"Again, it's well hidden." Riku shrugged.

Kairi took a bite of the pasta and then joined into the conversation. "So, what are we doing once we get there? How will we find the King?"

Sora laughed. "After all that happened, I can tell you beyond a doubt that we will find us. He always does."

"It's a talent." Riku added with a laugh, standing to clear his now empty bowl the same time Sora had. Kairi was about half done.

"You two were hungry," she commented with a warm smile.

"I guess." Sora said, patting his stomach with a small grin.

"But, anyway, we got off topic," Riku sighed. "Cid said we should get there soon, that it won't take that long. We're not far off course."—He shrugged—"He also said that we might as well take a nap, he needs to chart the new planet so that others will know it's there, and know that it's not traceable via Navigation Gummy, and until further notice to stay away so we can get our stuff done."

"Sounds like a plan." Sora nodded.

"But where do we sleep?" Kairi asked, placing her bowl into the sink with a tiny clinking sound. "It's not like there are any beds, and we don't have separate bedrooms…"

She was cut off for the second time today by the computerized voice of the ship, which repeated her final word. "Bedroom!" Then everything began to change. From the floor rose three twin-sized beds, each a respectable difference away from one another, while the table disappeared with the cabinetry, the appliances, and the dishes from their dinner. Each bed had a different color pillow, and a quilt: one pink, one blue, and one a dark violet.

"I want the blue one!" Sora said, flopping down onto it. Riku sat silently on the edge of his bed, while Kairi crawled under the covers of her own bed. Cid came back on the screen then, and Riku told his friends not to bother, that he would go talk to Cid.

Riku was surprised to see that he was still eating, and had some rice stuck to his chin, but he let it go and decided not to say anything.

"So it seems," Cid began. "That this trip to that world of yours won't be long at all, Gummy Ships are like that, they go fast, and the Excalibur 5000 is no exception. I was working on finding an estimated time for you lot that would tell you when to arrive at the new planet. According to my calculations, at your speed it'll be less than a day. A few hours."

"That's not bad at all," Riku smiled, "I still can't believe it went unnoticed for so long. "

"Well, that's part of the reason you three are headed there: to figure out just why it is that its gone unnoticed for so long," Cid nodded. "Now, go get some rest, tell them I said Hi. Contact me again before you get off that ship onto the planet."

Riku nodded his understanding. With that, Cid disappeared and the windshield became perfectly clear again, nothing to see but empty space and twinkling stars. Riku knew that the brighter ones were planets, and as a curious half-thought he wondered if any of them had been planets that he, Sora or Kairi had been to. Sometimes it was still hard to imagine that they had been to so many places, and gone through so much since they had just been kids on an Island, trying to see a new world by taking a raft and floating away from the shore. The memory brought the ghost of a smile to his lips, he was happy to be back with them, even if he sometimes didn't show it. Things had happened, that was all. Now everything was going back to normal…and that was how he had wanted it.

He turned back to see his friends both asleep. Sora was snoring lightly. Riku soon climbed under the covers of his own bed and fell soundly asleep.

: - - - :

They awoke to a small alarm someplace in the ship's cabin, and a small, computerized voice saying. 'We have arrived at your destination. We have arrived at your destination. We have arrive—'

"Okay, stop." Sora grumbled, sitting up. Kairi stretched and yawned, Riku sat up and then tried to untangle his slightly knotted hair. Sora walked over to the control panel and pulled a paper that must have come out of the fax machine while they were sleeping, Riku didn't recall it being there when they had gone to bed that night. Sora read it aloud.

_'Yo! While ya'll where asleep, I took the liberty of programming the coordinates of your destination into the Auto Pilot in the Excalibur 5000. By the time you get this, you should be there. Look outside! Give me a call when you get this, just so I know to make sure the ship stays stationary for you.  
~Cid'_

"We'd better call him back, then." Kairi said, coming up beside Sora. She pushed the button and Cid greeted then loudly, smiling.

"'Bout time the lot of you got up!"

"Morning, Cid. We got your note," Sora held up the piece of paper, which wrinkled slightly in his grip. "Thanks for programming the coordinates in for us."

"No problem. It's what I do." He said non-chalanty, waveing his hand as he did so.

"Okay. We'll call again soon, okay, Cid?"

"Sure thing." Cid said, and then disappeared from the screen.

"You ready to go?" Riku asked. When the others nodded, they began to prepare to leave the ship.

:---:

They where standing in front of a school.


	3. Chapter 3: What a Dream will Effect

Notes!: I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE!

Marching Band dominating my life really didn't help, but now that its over and so is my crazy huge inspection in ROTC, I should have a lot more free time. I thank you all for reading and baring with me. ^^ So here we are, chapter three! Sorry its shorter than normal. ^^

CHAPTER THREE: WHAT A DREAM WILL EFFECT

When the weather got warmer, the kids went from the cafeteria to the outdoors, where they could bask in the sun and feel the warmth of the air. Arisa, Mara, and Kris where no different from any other student in this sense, and because when they went outside, a few people tended to follow them to the outdoors. One was Mara's boyfriend, Bunny. The other was Axel, the newest addition to the small group. But today was particularity exciting, as Mara had brought Otter Pops as a special treat, kept nice and cool in the personal freezer that her Chemistry Teacher kept in his back room, along with Drum Sticks, microwaveable Burritos, and the occasional package of Hot Pockets. Sometimes there where even TV dinners on the nights that he had to stay late.

"It was nice of him to let you use the freezer." Bunny said, sucking on a popsicle.

"These are good," Axel pointed out as he tasted his. A red Otter Pop that almost matched the color of his hair.

Kris had an Orange, Arisa a blue, and Mara had a yellow one. Bunny had a pink one.

"These are my favorite!" Arisa smiled warmly at Axel. It was an expression that Axel, Kris had noticed, had a hard time not returning. For once, that fact seemed to bother her less, and more than usual. It was weird, even to her. She was happy that, somehow, in the past two weeks that Axel had managed to worm his way into their little group to the point that even she was warming up to him now. He had held a conversation longer then three sentences with her the day before. She was also happy that Arisa liked someone who Kris could actually get along with, which was another reason he had managed to worm his way into the group. But yet… something was still off about Axel. Something about him still bothered Kris. She didn't say anything, though, as to keep Mara, Bunny, and Arisa from freaking out. Nonetheless, Kris was still curious about him, and thus allowed this feeling to slide. Slightly frustrated about her own reaction to this, she bit down on her Otter Pop silently. Nothing like an orange Otter Pop to help you think.

The fire-engine-red-headed youth laughed and beamed at Arisa. "Really? I can see why." He grinned.

Mara threw Arisa a grin. It was an expression that said, "You've noticed how their acting…right?"

Kris allowed the corners of her mouth to twitch upward. Oh yeah, she knew.

Mara decided then to change the subject. "So, Arisa! What are you doing for the summer? School is out in like…three weeks."

Arisa sighed. She knew. She and the summer had a very clear, very defined love-hate relationship. She loved to sleep in, loved not going to school, and loved the sun. However, she hated not seeing her friends (besides Kris who practically lived at her house) and hated how slowly it could drag by with nothing to do at all except watch clouds go by or watch trees grow. This summer was bound to be much the same. If it wasn't for Kris, she was bound to lose her mind. "Nothing unusual, we'll probably have fun messing around and stuff like normal." Arisa nudged Kris with her elbow in the ribs.

"Cut it out." Kris muttered, but smiled. Mara grinned at this, too. Summers with Kris and Arisa where sometimes a little on the crazy side, from trying to blow things up with Bottle Rockets to helping build things like the chicken coop at Arisa's. Kris often walked over to Arisa's just for the work because she got bored -- but Arisa never went to Kris's house. Kris refused to let her go.

Arisa looked at Mara. "Still going to your Grandma's? The one with the huge library?"

Mara nodded, sucking the last drops of juice from the Otter Pop wrapper. "Yep." she answered simply, but Bunny noticed the gleam in her eyes. Mara adored her Grandma, and loved to spend time with the elderly woman. Mara said that she was sweet, and full of wisdom.

"I still want to meet this Grandma of yours." Bunny grinned.

"She'll never let a boy come over." Mara laughed. "She almost peed when I told her I had a boyfriend, and that he had been to the house."

Axel piped up then. "I don't have any plans."

"Why not?" Mara asked. "I mean, I know that there is not a ton of things to do here, but still, usually people have something that they want to do."

Axel shrugged. "I just… don't really know anyone besides you guys." He shrugged.

Bunny allowed himself a sly grin. "Well, you could always come over to my place. We could stalk the girls together, then." he flinched away from Kris as she kicked at him, trying to get him in the shin. Of course, as he shied away from her he bumped into Arisa, who bashed him on the head the same time that Mara did. "Owe, owwwww," he complained as he put his head on his knees. "Now I won't be able to sleep tonight because I might have a concussion. That hurt, guys!"

"Gals." Mara corrected him in a matter-of-fact tone that she tended to adopt when she was punishing him for something.

"Whatever." Kris and Bunny mumbled at her in unison.

Though he'd seen it before Axel still cocked his head to the side. Bunny could be an idiot, they all knew that. Axel had even taken the time to spell it out for him after one of his more idiotic moments. The flashback brought a hint of a smile to Axel's features. "You are an idiot, Bunny. I-D-I-O-T. Got it memorized?" Yet, Bunny could be a creature of high intelligence… that was, when he wasn't doing something similar to banging his head on the ground. He was tall, he was thin, and for some unexplainable reason he had, as of late, been trying to pull off a "High 'N Tight" hair cut. At this he was failing. Even to Mara. Then again, that hair cut seemed to look good only on three percent of the overall populous, and Bunny was not one of this particular brand of people. -- not even by a long shot. Mara would be the first to agree on this with anyone.

Kris mimicked Axel's movement, and moved her head to the side as he straightened up. She had her own question now. "Axel, you said you've lived here but where home schooled up until lately… but you claim to know no one. I'm confused. If you lived here you should know what its like and know some people to hang out with, right?"

"Well, from the sound of that, you don't want me hanging out with you." He scoffed, looking at Kris sternly until her face turned the lightest of pinks. Arisa, Mara and Bunny all chuckled in the background. Kris wasn't used to getting toyed with. When Axel's face split into a huge grin, she glared at him. "Kidding." He laughed, then went silent for a half second. Axel didn't even so much as blink as he continued devouring the Otter Pop, sucking the last vestiges of juice from its plastic casement. He kept his eyes down. "I spent the summers with other family members, I'm not unusually here for a full summer. As well as going to Public School, I'm allowed to stay while my family goes on vacation this year." He said, finishing the Otter Pop and crumpling the emptied wrapper into a ball "All kinds of new privileges. I don't know what I'm going to do with all this popularity." He smiled.

"Throw a wild party?" Bunny smirked in a slightly maniacal way. Arisa, Mara, and Kris glared at him. Axel looked at him for half a second before he looked back down at the plastic wad in his palm that had once been the wrapper for the Otter Pop that Mara had given him. Hmmm….

Bunny turned and Axel flicked it at him. The ball ricochet off of Bunny's head and landed softly in the grass. It began to unravel and take back its normal shape.

"Hey man!" Bunny yelped, surprised by the attack. "What was that for?!"

"Because I can." Axel smiled wryly, winking at Arisa as though he'd done some sort of heroic action.

This was answered by Bunny throwing Kris's empty milk carton at Axel, and missing by a long shot. "No fair!" Bunny hollered. "That was… that was the winds fault! I get to try again!" He ranted like this for awhile, the others laughing at him. Except for Kris. She leaned back.

"Yep. Axel's a strange one." She thought, finishing her Otter Pop, crumpling the plastic casement in her hand and tossing it into the garbage bin, the lunch bell dinging dauntingly, telling them to go back to class. Kris swiped her backpack off the grass and tossed the others theirs. Axel watched her movements and 'offed' as his backpack, the last one to get picked up, was slammed into his chest.

"That, was not nice." He grumbled, sounding slightly winded. "What was that for?"

"For standing right there." Kris shrugged and put her right thumb behind the right strap of her backpack and stepped off, making her way to the next class as though nothing had happened, whistling quietly. Axel and Arisa headed into their history class, while Bunny and Mara went to Chemistry and English. Kris went into a math class. She grumbled about hating math, She really, really did.

"Okay, class." The teacher spoke as they sat down. He stood, surveying the class with a slightly bored expression. Normally when he did this it was followed by two words. Pop and Quiz. Kris let her hit the desk with a loud bang, making the others look at her with raised eyebrows as she muttered something along the lines of "I hate math."

The teacher raised an eyebrow too. "Are you feeling alright, Kristian?"

Kris flinched at the sound of her full name being used. "Yeah, I'm fine." She grumbled.

The teacher shook his head. "Okay, class. We're getting a new student in here tomorrow."

Kris lifted her head off the desk. Another new student? Man, the school was popular this year. First Axel and now this. The entire class shifted, waited.

"He'll be sitting by Kris, because that's the only open seat we have left."

"Teacher," Someone shouted. Kris looked to the source of the noise. She wasn't surprised to see that it was one of the kids she often argued with. "I think that might be a bad idea. She's not exactly friendly."

"Well, then perhaps Kris would rather have him sit someplace else then."

"No, its fine." Kris sighed. "The kid can sit next to me. I really don't care. " She muttered. This was going to be a long, long class. She was almost looking forward more to the lecture.

Once it began she didn't do it. She was doodling on her paper, just waiting for class to get out. She thought for a while. She almost wanted Arisa to hook up with Axel. For starters, their names started with A, and Kris thought it was cute when names matched up like that. Not to mention that she could tell, try as her friend might to hid the face that she did, liked Axel. Kris was fairly sure that the feeling was mutual.

A paper wad hit the back of her head and she sunk further into her seat, grinding her teeth to control the rage. This was going to be a long, long class period. Part of her worried about how the new student would do with this group of people.

Kris didn't see anyone for the rest of the day. Her classes just didn't overlap close enough with anyone elce's to let her see anyone. But that was alright, because she liked being alone. She was still wondering about this new student. She walked to the office slowly. She had time, and it was still warm out. She wanted to stay in the sun as long as she possibly could. It made her feel warm and the buildings were unusually cold for this time of year. Probably the heating and cooling systems on the fritz again, as it usually did once every quarter. She wondered how it was that the school had no funds, needed repairs on everything, and still managed to get the cheerleaders new uniforms every year and new Flatscreen TV's in the office. She sighed and rolled her eyes. She was ready to go home.

Sixth period was photography, today she was editing pictures for her semester portfolio. She sat back and closed her eyes, having finished early. When the bell rang, she was on the bus less then two minutes later.

She laid down once she got home, covering up and going to sleep without thinking about it.

She dreamed.

_Kris stood in darkness. There was no other word for it, I guess, just that it was dark. She didn't know what was going on. Suddenly, she flinched from a piercing light. She moved to it, fascinated by it, and stepping into a white room. _

_Two sides, light and dark. The connection was made in the back of her mind someplace. She stood very still, someone in a cloak… or rather something, appeared. He tossed his hood back to reveal rounded black ears. Kris smiled, he looked like a mouse. _

_"My name is King Mickey." he said. Kris stared for a moment._

_"Nice to meet you. My name is Kris." She smiled warmly, which she noted was something that she didn't do often. Greet new people warmly, that is. _

_"Likewise, Kris." The Kind smiled back and then turned to the wall. There was a flash of light and suddenly a giant key appeared in his hands. _

_"Keyblade?" Kris muttered the name as it popped into her head. Her heart pounded and she clutched at her chest. She felt like she needed that object for something. The feeling was choking her. But it was momentary, and it passed quickly. Mickey threw her a sidelong glance. _

_"Are you alright, Kris?" _

_"Y…yeah." She panted slightly, the choking feeling going away. "Just uhm… actually, I really don't know. But I'm fine now." She grinned. _

_Mickey returned the smile, believing the young girl. He tapped the wall with the key blade, and suddenly a door appeared. "Here. Come with me." He said, sliding through the door. _

_Without a second thought Kris followed behind. _

_They were in a library, Kris realized all of a sudden, and was awed by the sheer mass of all of the books. She and her friends all loved to read, and someplace in the back of her mind she wondered if this was heaven and she had died in her sleep. _

_She wanted to look at all the books. It was endless. So many of them. Titles gleemed in gold ink on the spines of them. Strange, fascinating titles. Mickey allowed her to wander, even take one off of the shelf and thumb threw it, watching her soft expression as she read them, absorbing the words as though it was something vital to her. She was simply enjoying the story the book held. _

_"Kris. I have something to show you." Mickey said. Snapping back, Kris's black curls bounced as she looked up suddenly. _

_"Yes, King Mickey." She said, replacing the book and then jogging after them. He walked over to an ornately carved Podium, and motioned for Kris to look at it. It was about the hearts of things. People, creatures, the light and dark held within them, and most of all the heart of worlds. Something a world needed to survive, were the life of the planet was held. And then about the Keyblade, and how it could be used to protect or destroy. _

_"Just remember, Kris." The king said as she read. _

_"Remember what?" Kris said, reluctantly pulling her eyes away from the pages of the book, and then looked down at Mickey, staring for a moment as her vision adjusted. _

_"In this equation, Three parts make a whole." _

Arisa sat up with a start. She was covered in sweat, and she didn't entirely know why.

"Okay, I'm confused." She muttered. She didn't have a scary dream, she had no right to be awake right now. She didn't get much sleep anyway. She glanced at the illuminated clock on her nightstand. Five in the morning. Goodness, it was about time to get up anyway. With a frustrated sigh she went downstairs to get something to eat. Cereal sounded really, really good at that point.

She jumped as she passed the phone. It rang loudly. Kris's cell phone number lit up the Caller ID. Kris never called that early. Kris never was up before five thirty. Something was wrong.

As soon as Arisa picked up the phone, Kris was talking,

"I had the strangest dream. Mara called me. She had it too." Kris said, exasperated. She told Arisa everything. And Arisa sighed. She'd had that dream too, and had awoken the same way. So the question remained. What whole?

Three parts to a whole…

Bunny was jamming to his favorite tunes as he went to pick the girls up. Mara normally sat in the cab with Bunny, and the other two sat on the seats they had built for the bed of the "Old Piece O' Junk Mazda." as Kris called it. Bunny saw threw the ruse, though, Kris loved the truck. Kris just liked trucks period.

He tapped along with the beat and sang along with country songs. The scary thing was that when Kris was in the truck, she was known to sing all the songs too. She knew every country song that Bunny did, and the two put on quite a show for the other members that rode in the truck and the people as the drove into the parking lot every morning. Axel had witnessed it once and responded to it with raised eyebrows and a few questions. They shrugged there response.

He picked up Mara first, and the first thing she did was tell him about that weird dream, and how the other two had had it. He looked thoughtful for a minute. "That could mean anything. Like, you need three parts of a whole to make a three so--"

There was a loud crack as Mara hit bunny with her binder, snapping her ruler. "Look at what you made me do, you idiot!" She yelled.

Bunny laughed at her, rubbing his arm. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. But seriously, I had a weird dream, too."

"Did you?" Mara raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. It was weird. We were in this room and you never got nake--"

Mara hit him again as they pulled up in front Arisa's house, Kris was already waiting on the porch. She called into the house and Arisa appeared, placing a small kitten on the porch, and the two leapt into the back of the truck.

Kris slid the back window open so they could all talk to one another as Bunny drove, strapping herself into the seat. Arisa did the same. And they were off. No one mentioned anything about dreams. Arisa, Kris and Mara wanted to talk about that later. In private, were they wouldn't get stupid comments from Bunny. (Not that Mara had any intention of telling the other two that he'd already put in his input for stupid comments.

The school parking lot was beginning to fill as they parked across the street, at the front of the nature trails Kris lept over the side of the truck and landed nimbly on her toes.

"I wanna try, Kris! Move!" Arisa shouted.

And she jumped. Her foot caught the edge and Kris caught her as she fell, knocking both of them to the ground. Bunny rounded the side of the truck, laughing hysterically as Arisa rolled off of Kris, who was wheezing, winded on the ground. Once she was back on her feet, the group jogged across the street, J-walking and completely aware of it as they dodged traffic.

"I can't believe we haven't been arrested for that yet." Mara muttered at they walked to the cafeteria to get breakfast.

As they walked inside, They caught a glimpse of aqua-silver hair, and Kris made eye-contact with a tall boy, his eyes a deeper aqua. He smiled shyly, and then walked off behind a girl in a pink dress, and a boy with hair that stuck up as though he had used anti-gravity hair gel. The other two looked back. Both of them had blue eyes.

Kris, Mara, and Arisa watched for a second before Bunny opened the door to the cafeteria. "What are you three ogling at? Lets go. I can see Axel."

"Mara. Arisa. Did I tell you we were getting a new student today? Apparently its three." Kris said as she stepped inside, still feeling a bit shaken. She didn't know why.


End file.
